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Darren Criss
Darren Criss is a 24-year old singer, songwriter and actor from New York. He is best known for playing Harry Potter in the fanmade hit musical A Very Potter Musical. He currently plays the character of Blaine on Glee, an openly gay, student at Dalton Academy. Early life and education Originally New York, Darren Everett Criss grew up in San Fransico, California. He is half-Philippino (his mother's side) and half-Irish (his father's side). He attended the Stuart Hall for Boys for his primary education and St. Ignatius College Preparatory for his secondary education. He went on to the University of Michigan and graduated in 2009 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Performance and Acting. He plays a wide variety of instruments, including guitar, violin, piano, and drums. His hobbies are window shopping, writing poetry, dancing with male escorts and "guitar strumming." He is also known for making Disney covers on his YouTube channel, Iclemyer . Career That Media Show Darren was the original host of That Media Show, a Rochester short-form web series which discussed Hollywood, filmmaking and visual effects (early episodes are available on iTunes). StarKid Productions Criss is a major actor in the theater production group Team Starkid , formed by musical theatre students at the University of Michigan. His most popular role with Team Starkid was as Harry Potter in A Very Potter Musical, which went viral in the summer of 2010, and A Very Potter Sequel, which premiered in May 2010. He is credited with writing half of the songs in A Very Potter Musical and all of the songs in A Very Potter Sequel. The role of Harry gained Darren a few fans within the Harry Potter fandom. Due to his work on Eastwick, Criss was unable to act in Team StarKid's production of Me and My Dic''k in the fall of 2009. Instead, he did what he could with his limited schedule and wrote a couple of songs for the show, as well as played the guitar in the pit. He also played a lead role in a web series, (produced by Team StarKid before they were called as such) ''Little White Lie. Criss played the role of Toby Phillips, a popular high school student who is the love interest of one of the main characters, Sami. As the series progresses, conflicts arise and his performance skills are used well. Darren has written songs for StarKid's latest production, Starship, which is about "a far off world inhabited by a race of giant alien insects" and Bug, who "has never quite fit into bug-society and inside the pus-vesicles that serve as his heart longs for something more." This show will be performed live from February 11 to the 23 at the Hoover-Leppen Theatre in Chicago. Their Website is http://www.teamstarkid.com/ Music His music career includes his first self-produced EP "Human", which was released during the summer of 2010, and includes five songs, entitled, "Human", "Jealousy", "Not Alone", "Sami" and "Don't You". He started plans for a full-lengthed album before he was hired for Glee, but still has plans to complete a full album in the near future. He has written several other original songs, and performs regularly at venues in Los Angeles. Television Darren played Josh Burton, a minor recurring character and possible love interest for Mia, on ABC's short-lived drama, Eastwick. He also appeared on an episode of Cold Case, "Free Love" as the '69 version of Reuben Harris. Life of Leopold Darren Criss voices the character of Leopold the cat in the Internet video series, Life of Leopold. Glee Criss auditioned for Glee a couple of times, including an audition for Finn (with a cover of The Little Mermaid's "Part of Your World"), before landing the character of Blaine, a student at a rival school. He successfully used the Britney Spears song ...Baby One More Time for this audition. Blaine is a "confused but happy student" and serves as a mentor to Kurt as he struggles through being bullied at McKinley. It is rumored his character will be a love interest for Kurt Hummel. Glee creator Ryan Murphy stated, "Darren has a major, major arc... He sort of becomes Kurt's mentor and then maybe love-he had to leave his own school because of bullying and goes to an all-boys academy and finds acceptance because that school has a no-bullying, zero-tolerance policy. Kurt really admires and respects Blaine. He plays someone who's one year older than Chris' character, so he's the old pro." Criss has recently signed a deal to appear as a series regular on Glee for the remainder of season 2 and the entirety of season 3. Source Darren's first song on Glee ''(which was arranged and backed by the Tufts Beelzebubs), "Teenage Dream", hit number 1 on the Billboard charts, selling 214,000 singles in its first week. It is the first time a ''Glee track has reached the #1 spot, and was the fastest selling Glee track to date. The show's rendition of Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" landed at #2 last May when it sold 177,000 copies. Source He followed this trend with other songs he sang in following episodes; "Bills, Bills, Bills," "When I Get You Alone," "Silly Love Songs," and "Hey Soul Sister," all reached the top ten on iTunes. YouTube A Very Potter Musical Act I Part I A Very Potter Sequel Act I Part I Darren's youtube page Videos thumb|250px|left|Darren singing Teenage Dream for US magazine thumb|250px|right|Teenage Dream livethumb|250px|left|"Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" Interviews thumb|275px|right|At the Trevor Project thumb|275px|left|Darren at the Grove thumb|275px|left|Yong Chavez Interviews Darren Criss thumb|275px|right|GLEE Photo-shoot EW Gallery DarrenAsHarry.jpg RcIY6.jpg DarrenCrisspink.jpg Screen shot 2010-07-26 at 11.13.07 AM.png Tumblr lbyib5nTcm1qblpito1 400.jpg Zzz.jpg Kurtblainedavidwes.jpg Darren Criss1.jpg Screen shot 2010-11-16 at 10.21.48 AM.png|Darren Criss at Harry Potter Premiere Darren Criss4.jpg Darren Criss2.jpg 2jaaupv.jpg|Darren Criss and Katy Perry at AMAs|linktext=Darren Criss and Katy Perry at AMAs 15wdidj.jpg|Darren Criss and Katy Perry at AMAs|linktext=Darren Criss and Katy Perry at AMAs 014.jpg|Darren Criss mq002.jpg|Darren Criss darrencrisspublicassembly.jpg|Darren Criss at Public Assembly 30aghvo.gif mq0011.jpg 69350_833402.jpg|Darren Criss performing with his band at the Troubadour tumblr_lclkv50jFI1qbboz4o1_1280.jpg|Darren at a top-secret recording session 197933756.jpg|Darren playing the mandolin with his brother, Chuck. Darren Criss red.jpg 203768010.jpg|Darren at Trevor Live DarrenCrissRocksOut.jpg|Darren Criss rocks out. preview_green-187x300.jpg tumblr_ld2npo2Tg71qdnd7vo1_500.jpg|linktext=Photoshoot 31250_423098713063_109865218063_5495022_5907333_n.jpg|Darren as Harry Potter in A Very Potter Sequel darren playing violen.jpg|Darren Criss playing the violin Less than three.gif|Not Alone from A Very Potter Musical Darren Criss, Community High.jpeg|Darren Criss tumblr_lda29iEnkd1qcayy9.jpg|linktext=Behind the scenes 5243534422_7d8c094cbc.jpg msg1292602830583.jpg|linktext=Paparazzi shot tumblr_ldls13r9Ve1qasbbbo1_400.png 018.jpg 8.png|linktext=Darren at The Roxy IMG_5022.JPG|linktext=Toys for Tots 17Roxy.jpg|linktext=At The Roxy tumblr_ldrswlvUtb1qahre8o1_500.jpg|linktext=Darren in the Philippines tumblr_leth4rH7Z91qagqn9o1_1280.jpg tumblr_lezy2hw5e01qcayy9.jpg darren_criss_fox_gg.jpg|Sassy Gay Darren at Fox's 2011 Golden Globes party 17459263aelora117201193.jpg tumblr_lf6rxwheCX1qzl9k5o1_500.jpg tumblr_lf6nrfMgrD1qagqn9o1_500.jpg tumblr_lg08ugFLHX1qg957to1_500.jpg|Backstage at Ellen darrencriss1-1297655766.jpg|''OUT Magazine'' tumblr_lgldnyDI2x1qetnhvo1_500.jpg tumblr_lgm6ac4DXy1qclq1no1_400.jpg|''OUT Magazine''